Photo Trip Report: Japan in a Van

[buksida]

We arrived in Tokyo just after mid-day but you can’t check in to hotels in Japan until 3pm so we went out to try and find accommodation for a third night in the capital city. However, November 3 happened to be a national holiday (Culture Day) and after being sent away from three hotels saying they were full and Agoda telling us there was nothing under $250 downtown for that night we gave up and decided to leave Tokyo a day earlier than planned.

It was off to central station to book the Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets to Osaka, fearing that would also be full. Tokyo’s grand central station is bigger than most airports – a massive sprawling rabbit warren on multiple levels with hundreds of exits. It took half an hour to find the JR rail ticket office since the ticket machines were telling us there were no seats available.

After speaking to a nice human and parting with around 29,000 yen (approx. 7,000 baht) we had two tickets on the Shinkansen departing at mid-day on November 3.

One thing Google Maps was very good for was planning rail journeys across Tokyo as it could calculate the best lines to use, the costs, times, walking distances, and where to enter and exit the stations, each of which is its own multi-level labyrinthine maze. The Pasmo travel cards came in very handy and local journeys were cheap, seldom costing more than 200 yen (around 50 baht).

After a bit of a laborious check-in procedure at the APA Mita hotel, we could relax in our room (which wasn’t much bigger than the motorhome) before walking over to Tokyo Tower in the evening.

On the way, we stopped for some famous Bario Ramen which came in portions large enough for a whole family and was very reasonably priced.

On a very full stomach, it was time to walk to the big orange Eiffel Tower for a trip to the top which cost 3,000 yen (around 750 baht) each. The tour was informative but I was more interested in the views and photo opportunities of the sprawling urban jungle from the top, 250 meters up.

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To follow: Tokyo

[Dannie Boy]

Looks like a copyright infringement


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[buksida]

It is actually a radio tower built in 1958 to cater to the growing demand for transmission towers from TV stations in Tokyo during Japan's post-war boom.

[Dannie Boy]

Great views/photos!!

[caller]

I remember going up that tower, but not at night, and the weather wasn't too kind - this was in March. Tokyo was the only city I have visited where I didn't have the confidence to get around everywhere on my own, simply because the lack of English signage and spoken English bothered me. But that was 18 years ago now! I loved everything about Tokyo apart from one thing and when I wasn't on an organised trip, I walked! I walked to Ginza, which took about an hour, it was of no interest, but the lanes off of it were great, full of small restaurants, Pachinko arcades and so on. I also walked around the neighbourhood in the area my hotel was, which conveniently had an art gallery I wanted to visit nearby. I just really enjoyed seeing the residential streets and how the Japanese lived. The hotel was huge, with 6 towers, I think I was on the 33rd floor of one of them, at the very top was a bar, just like in the film 'Lost in Translation' with a smooth jazz trio playing and I could watch the planes landing and taking off at Tokyo's other airport (name?), which is much nearer than Narita.

The one thing I didn't like about Tokyo? And I am sure it has changed, was that everyone smoked everywhere, not on buses or trains, but certainly in restaurants and that was annoying.

I'm loving this report and the photos are fantastic!

[buksida]

Tokyo was the only city I have visited where I didn't have the confidence to get around everywhere on my own, simply because the lack of English signage and spoken English bothered me.
...
The one thing I didn't like about Tokyo? And I am sure it has changed, was that everyone smoked everywhere, not on buses or trains, but certainly in restaurants and that was annoying.

English signage (or lack of it) was an issue all over the country, but it is spoken a little more in Tokyo than in the rural areas we found. Very few smokers were about, its an older generation thing! Indonesia is the worst country I have been to for smoking where even the kids are puffing away!

Day nine
Today was our only full day in Tokyo so we had a lot to pack in. The first stop was the city’s top attraction – its oldest Buddhist temple, Sensō-ji. About a million tourists had the same idea and the place was rammed. Thailand often touts how many tourists it gets, but I’ve never seen mass tourism on this level anywhere.

Wandering the tourist streets packed with trinket stalls, food vendors, t-shirt shops, and the usual fayre did provide some good photo opportunities though it was virtually impossible to get shots without people in them.

Walking while eating is considered impolite in Japan as it suggests you don’t appreciate the food. So each place has a designated area to stand and eat, and those that don’t sell food have signs telling people not to stand and eat there!

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To follow: Akihabara, Tokyo

[Big Boy]

What was with the knives? An attractive photo, but not your normal holiday snap

My son has quite an interest in combat weapons, so I called him to look right away. With a sort of semi-disgust, he said, "They're kitchen knives."

Mind you, he spent a few weeks in Tokyo in 2009, and his photos showed ladies, and the inside of bars. I've seem a lot more of Tokyo from your day in Tokyo than I got from his 3 weeks there.

[buksida]

Yes, kitchen knives, my son is training to be a chef so I took that one for him, Japanese knives are the most sought after.

[Dannie Boy]

Yes they’re renown as the best you can buy and presumably in Japan more affordable than say the UK where you pay a hefty premium.

I love the women in their colourful kimonos - but the phone is central to their lives!!

[Nereus]

You have remarked about how polite the Japs are. Just imagine the turmoil there would be if those crowds were all "me first" pushing and shoving!

[buksida]

There were a lot of Chinese tourists (and quite a few Thais) in those crowds so it was a bit of a melee at times - a total contrast to living out of a van in the mountains, which I was starting to miss!

[STEVE G]

Yes, kitchen knives, my son is training to be a chef so I took that one for him, Japanese knives are the most sought after.

I was recently looking in the window of a shop in Germany that sold expensive cooking equipment and they had Japanese knives that were over 500 euros.
That impressed me a bit because I think my kitchen knife cost about 5 euros!

[buksida]

Getting hungry we jumped back on the train to Skytree but ended up at the wrong station so decided to go to Akihabara which was on the way back. Electric Town is famed for Manga, gaming, and all things tech so I was at home there. We found an eatery called “Go Go Curry” for a Manga-themed Katsu curry lunch.

There is often a queue at Japanese restaurants, especially popular ones since opening and eating times are set. Eateries are small, bar-type places where you order from a machine and put bank notes into it and food consumption is quick – the Japanese are constantly on the go.

After our superb curry, it was time to get lost in the giant tech and electronics stores of Akihabara where I gravitated towards the floor full of cameras.

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To follow: Shibuya, Tokyo

[buksida]

Our final Tokyo destination was the famous crazy ‘Scramble Crossing’ at Shibuya where I’ve never experienced such a seething mass of humanity. As many as 3,000 people cross this intersection every couple of minutes when the lights go green and utter mayhem commences. However, it did seem that many were tourists and we crossed a couple of times ourselves just for the experience.

We found a back street to sit and grab a cold beer while waiting for nightfall to venture back into cyberpunk city to mingle with the human mélange for some more neon-inspired photo opportunities.

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To follow: more Shibuya

[buksida]

More from the neon-lit streets around Shibuya ...

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To follow: Tokyo to Osaka